This is the Shirt

This is the shirt that sent Andy into virtual hives 4 years ago.

He was 2. And it was Easter. Some khaki shorts and it would be pretty cute.

And then Mr. Sharpie went into panic mode. The shirt felt different. It wasn't a tee shirt. It had buttons. And a collar. And he started itching. And yanking at it. And squalling "get it off!"

We took it off. And put it in the tub for another, not so weird, child.

Fast forward 4 years. Paul was 2. And it was Easter. Some khaki shorts and hey, look at how cute he looks.

Not quite the dramatics that his big brother went through, but Paul was concerned about the buttons too. And the fact that it didn't feel like a tee shirt. And he yanked on it. And whimpered "opp, opp."

We took it off. And put it in a box to give to another family who actually dresses their kids in something other than tees.

Now, we all know how Mr. Sharpie is so that shouldn't be much of a shocking story. It was about the same time when he was 2 that he became obsessed with light-up shoes. Oh, he loved looking at other kid's light-up shoes. So I took him to WalMart to get a pair. They were black race car shoes that had lights. I still remember how excited Andy was, clutching them as we carted our way through the store and to the check out line. And how after paying for them, he asked to put them on. And how he sat so still in the cart while I pulled off his ragged shoes and put on the new ones. And how he smiled at them, pointed at them and then kicked his feet against each other. And how the little black shoes began frantically blinking.

And how Andy freaked out that his feet were lighting up. And how the panic took over his body as he scrambled to get those devil things off his feet. Oh, the hysteria. Until I got them off his feet and back in the box where they belonged. We were still in WalMart and I almost just wheeled into Customer Service to return them.

I didn't though and those shoes sat in his closet for the next 6 months. He would go in there and shake them and see the lights. About 3 months in, he did put one on his foot, stomped it and then yanked that sucker off fast. After half a year, he did finally start wearing them. But sheesh.

Since Paul is typically not as weird as Andy and he refused to wear the shirt, I have to wonder if it's me. Maybe Andy's not so Sharpie after all (oh, that's a funny). Maybe it's my fault for not dressing up my little princes straight from the get go in little outfits of cuteness. I always thought knits must feel so much better on sensitive baby skin so that's what I put my boys in from day 1.

Does that make me an enabler of Sharpieness? Sigh.